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By Pankaj Vohra

In the murky world of Cloak and Dagger, many things happen, some believable and some unbelievable, which leave an indelible print on how events unfold.

There are multiple incidents which take place behind the scenes as depicted in the espionage stories of John le’ Carré, one of the greatest British novelists of the modern era.

There is a comical side too which was captured so well in his satirical cartoon strip, “Spy Vs Spy’’ by the Cuban-American cartoonist, Antonio Prohias for the Mad Magazine in the 1960s and thereafter.

In the Indian context, there have been many spies who changed the course of history but remain unsung to this day.

Rattan Sehgal, a high-ranking official in the Intelligence Bureau, who was forced to take pre-mature retirement following a huge controversy in 1996-97 involving US functionaries of the CIA in New Delhi, was one person.

He passed away on April 23.

Sehgal, had all what it takes to be the Spy and the role he performed was out of the movies.

A voracious reader, he was reading a book even in the hospital before his end came. He was once tipped to be the man who would one day be the director of the IB, the organization he served for most of his working life.

A blue-eyed boy of MK Narayanan, the most revered official of the intelligence community in the past 40 years, who shaped and destroyed the careers of many, had recognized his potential very early ad thus helped him to get several key postings, much to the envy of many of his colleagues.

Rattan Sehgal was always upto the job he was assigned and this was reflected in the unending anecdotes he would share with friends without actually revealing the inside stories.

He was an authority on Jazz music and a regular at the Golf Club.

He was well versed with cooking and followed daily events very minutely.

In fact, he fitted the description of a Spy as portrayed by John le’ Carré in his novels which also were adapted as movies and TV serials.

Many believe that Rattan Sehgal became a victim of the internal succession war within the IB, where he was compelled to quit in circumstances which have never been put in public domain with clarity.

There is a section which is of the view that since he was emerging as the possible DIB, the powerful Bengali lobby engineered his exit with great precision and execution.

The story which was often spoken about was regarding his rivalry with his 1964 IPS batchmate Moloy Krishna Dhar, who like him was an exceptional and outstanding functionary of the spy agency.

Dhar was forced to seek voluntary retirement a few days before his superannuation since evidence had surfaced regarding his birth certificate which he had produced to seek extension of service.

Dhar was born in what later became Bangladesh and he had claimed that due to the partition of India, his birth records could not be traced.

Subsequently, he produced a birth certificate which if it had been accepted would have given him a two years extension, thus making him a claimant or the position of the DIB.

However, in a secret inquiry conducted by the Government which involved the R&AW operative in Mymensingh in Bangladesh, it was established that the authenticity of the new document was in doubt.

Confronted with the findings, Moloy Krishna Dhar, had to leave under a cloud.

For some reason, the senior functionary’s colleagues in the organization thought that the entire thing had been engineered by Rattan Sehgal and it was aimed at eliminating Dhar from the race.

Whether this was true or not could not be established but the lobby was determined to fix Sehgal.

The story which was narrated by officials was that Sehgal who was additional director looking after counter-espionage activities had got mixed up with the CIA Station Director in New Delhi and surveillance conducted at the behest of the then acting DIB, Abhijit Mitra showed footage where he was seen accepting a T-Shirt and a Golf ball at the Ambassador hotel from the CIA operative.

His meetings with the Americans were described as unauthorized since he had not taken the required sanction even though it was a part of his job to deal with various agencies.

His earlier visit to Rome where he had met some CIA functionaries, was also brought into the inquiry.

The final decision on the matter rested with the top boss, and when during the HD Deva Gowda government, seniority became a principal for appointments, Arun Bhagat, former Delhi Police Commissioner who was the DGP of the BSF at that time, was appointed the DIB.

This despite the fact that Bhagat had never served in the organization.

Arun Bhagat was not familiar with the functioning of IB and depended on the matter on some of his new colleagues, who had formed an airtight case against Rattan Sehgal for what was perceived to be an official indiscretion.

There were leaks to the press by the lobby that wanted to see him out and during this period many other secrets tumbled out.

One such secret was regarding the proposed visit of Arun Bhagat to Langley, the CIA Headquarters where the newly appointed DIB was to travel for a meeting.

He was booked on First class in Air India, where a scheme existed that if you travelled in that category, your companion could travel free.

Bhagat’s wife was to accompany him to London and this became a talking point within the IB.

However, while all this was going on, Bhagat asked Sehgal to put in his papers thus ending a glorious career.

Sehgal left his Bharti Nagar residence and moved to Gurgaon where he lived till the end.

What worked for him was that when MK Narayanan became the NSA, he rehabilitated him in the intelligence community which had made him an outcast.

It is another matter that after Bhagat’s retirement, Shyamal Dutta a batch junior to Sehgal and Dhar became the DIB.

In normal course it should have been 1964 batch after 1961 to which Mitra and Bhagat belonged.

But it was 1965, which produced both Dutta who became the IB boss and AS Dulat, who was appointed as the RAW chief by Atal Behari Vajpayee.

Rattan Sehgal had missed the bus.

Rest in peace.

Your anecdotes, wit and humour would always be missed. (Courtesy – The Daily Guardian. Pankaj Vohra is the Managing Editor, The Sunday Guardian, published from New Delhi.)